Trio held in cyanide find don't appear to be terrorists, officials say

Friday

Sep 28, 2007 at 12:01 AM

SAN ANDREAS - Calaveras County authorities said Thursday that the three people arrested after the discovery of powdered cyanide, bomb-making materials and weapons during an investigation in the region do not appear to be terrorists.

Dana M. Nichols

SAN ANDREAS - Calaveras County authorities said Thursday that the three people arrested after the discovery of powdered cyanide, bomb-making materials and weapons during an investigation in the region do not appear to be terrorists.

They also said they don't know what the group might have planned to do with the powder, which a field test identified as probably potassium cyanide.

Still, the discovery of the chemical - made famous as the substance used in the mass murders and suicides of 900 people in Jonestown, Guyana, in 1978 - is troubling both to local officials and to a national group that seeks to prevent cyanide poisonings.

"That was highly unusual. I've never found it in that kind of an application," Calaveras County sheriff's Capt. Clay Hawkins said of the apparent cyanide powder found inside a container at a residence in Valley Springs.

Hawkins said that bomb technicians responding to the home in Valley Springs X-rayed a metal container that looked like it might be a bomb as part of their standard procedures. The X-ray revealed what appeared to be a powder inside.

"This was a small amount," Hawkins said of the cyanide powder. "I am guessing no more than 2 ounces max, probably less than an ounce."

In this case, sheriff's staffers were easily able to safely dispose of the powder and send some of it off to a state laboratory for a definitive test, Hawkins said.

Even small quantities of cyanide can be deadly, however, depending on how humans are exposed to it, said Donald W. Walsh, president of the Cyanide Poisoning Treatment Coalition.

Walsh said the powder found in Valley Springs would be more dangerous if it was burned, sending out toxic smoke, than if it was simply dispersed during an explosion. "It doesn't take much," Walsh said of inhaled cyanide.

Walsh's group advocates for greater preparedness to confront mass cyanide poisoning. He said a 2005 survey of hospitals in major cities found few cities or hospitals with enough antidote kits to handle cyanide poisonings involving 50 or more people.

Larry Cornish, a vice president at Mark Twain St. Joseph's Hospital in San Andreas, said the hospital does have one cyanide antidote kit on hand.

The prime suspect in the weapons and cyanide case is Ronald LeRoy Applegate, 60, of San Andreas.

He was arrested on drug and weapons charges. Several of the weapons found in Applegate's possession were illegal military-style automatic assault rifles, authorities said.

Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Senior Special Agent Nina Delgadillo said her agency is considering pressing federal charges against Applegate.

Also arrested in the case were a husband and wife, Jim Bertrand, 26, and Tina Marie Bertrand, 19, both of San Andreas. They face burglary and drug charges.

Those arrested in the case do not appear to be terrorists, said Sgt. Chris Villegas, head of detectives for the Calaveras County Sheriff's Department.

"I do not know what they were planning to do with them," Villegas said of the assault rifles, which belonged to Applegate. "We are still investigating further to determine if they were just collector pieces or were going to be used for some kind of violence," Villegas said.